Recruiting

Motivation Treatments

Sponsor:

Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

Code:

NCT07159308

Conditions

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

Motivation

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 16 - 25

Healthy Volunteers: Not accepted

Interventions

Intrinsic Motivation Treatment

Extrinsic Motivation Treatment

Combined Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation Treatment

Study Details

Brief summary:

The goal of this clinical trial is to enhance motivation to complete daily living skills among 16 to 25-year-old autistic teens and young adults. Here are the main questions the trial aims to answer:

Can this trial improve motivation to complete daily living skills for skills that people know how to do but struggle to do them consistently?

Can this trial improve completion of the daily living skill that the participant identifies they want to do more often?

Do people report feeling more empowered to complete the daily living skill they want to do more often?

Are there any characteristics of a person that make them more or less likely to benefit from the treatment?

Researchers will compare treatments that target different types of motivation:

  • One treatment focuses on internal motivation and explores what is important to someone and then connect that value back to their daily living skill goal.
  • A second treatment focuses on external motivation and will explore a person finding outside sources of motivation, like rewards.
  • A third treatment will use a combination of both methods.

Autistic teens and young adults enrolled in this study will also be asked to choose someone in their life to be involved in the study with them. This person is called an "Important Person" (IP) and can be anyone close to them, like a family member, friend, roommate, partner, etc. The IP will be expected to support the teen/young adult throughout this treatment.

Participants and their IPs will:

  • Complete five 'talk' therapy sessions that will last 60 to 90 minutes. The IPs will join the last 15 minutes of each session)
  • Be assigned to one of the three motivation treatments
  • Fill out questionnaires before the first session, after sessions 2 through 5, and 2 weeks after therapy ends

Conditions

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

Motivation

Study ID

NCT07159308

Start date

Sep 15, 2025

Status verified date

Oct, 2025

Completion date

Feb, 2027

Anticipated

Primary completion date

Feb, 2027

Anticipated

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 16 - 25

Healthy Volunteers: Not accepted

Inclusion Criteria for Autistic Teens and Young Adults:

  • Age 16-25 years
  • Participants reporting an autism diagnosis from a qualified provider (Psychiatrist, Psychologist, Developmental Pediatrician, Neurologist). When possible, diagnosis will be confirmed through the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) Electronic Health Record (EHR).
  • Must identify an important person who is able to communicate by understanding and speaking full sentences in English
  • Ability to communicate by understanding and using full sentences in English
  • Informed Consent
  • Be willing to have sessions audio- and video-recorded

Exclusion Criteria for Autistic Teens and Young Adults:

  • Diagnosis of Intellectual Disability
  • Participant is currently considered a suicide risk in the opinion of the Investigator or is currently demonstrating active suicidal or homicidal ideation or self-injurious behavior.
  • Current, comorbid psychiatric disorder with sufficiently intense symptoms in the opinion of the Investigator that these symptoms may confound treatment.
  • Changes to mental health treatment plan (ex. starting or ending therapy or psychotropic medications over the course of this intervention).
  • Participation in a prior trial of our intrinsic motivation condition

Inclusion Criteria for Important Person:

  • Age 18 years or older
  • Must attend at least 15 minutes of each treatment session
  • Ability to communicate by understanding and using full sentences in English
  • Informed consent
  • Be willing to have sessions audio- and video-recorded

Exclusion Criteria for Important Person:

\- Is not willing to support the autistic teen/young adult with their daily living skill goal

Study Design

Enrollment

180 participants

Anticipated

Allocation

Randomized

Intervention Model

Parallel Assignment

Primary purpose

Treatment

Interventions and Outcome Measures

Arms

experimental: Intrinsic Motivation Treatment

Individuals assigned to this group will participate in the Intrinsic Motivation Treatment, which focuses on exploring a person's reasons for improving their completion of the daily living skill, such as reaching their goal of independence.

active comparator: Extrinsic Motivation Treatment

Individuals assigned to this group will participate in the Extrinsic Motivation Treatment. This treatment explores a person finding outside sources of motivation, such as treating themselves to something like or want.

experimental: Combined Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation Treatment

Individuals assigned to this group will participate in the Combined Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation Treatment. This treatment combines methods from the Intrinsic Motivation Treatment and the Extrinsic Motivation Treatment. For example, exploring both a person's reasons behind wanting to improve upon their completion of a daily living skill as well as what outside sources will help increase their motivation to improve upon that skill.

Interventions

Intrinsic Motivation Treatment

The Intrinsic Motivation treatment utilizes principles of Motivational Interviewing to help autistic young adults increase their desire and completion of daily living skills. This is a five-session intervention. Each clinical session is 60 minutes long. The goals of the treatment are to enhance motivation and behavior change.

Extrinsic Motivation Treatment

The Extrinsic Motivation treatment utilizes behavioral principles to help autistic adolescents and young adults create reward schedules and behavioral tracking sheets to enhance desire and completion of daily living skills. This is a five-session intervention. Each clinical session is 60 minutes long. The goals of the treatment are to enhance motivation and behavior change.

Combined Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation Treatment

The Combined Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation treatment combines elements of both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation treatments to enhance desire and completion of daily living skills. This is a five-session intervention. Each clinical session is 60-90 minutes long. The goals of the treatment are to enhance motivation and behavior change.

Primary outcome measure

  • Motivation to Change [ Time Frame: Up to 9 weeks. ]

Central Contacts and Locations

Central contacts

Benjamin E Yerys, PhD

267-425-1173YerysB@chop.edu

Madi Leach, Bachelors of Science

267 425 1172leachm1@chop.edu

Locations

CHOP Center for Advanced Behavioral Healthcare

Recruiting

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, 19139

Contacts

Madi E Leach, Bachelors of Science

267-425-1172leachm1@chop.edu

More Information

Sponsor

Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

Last update posted

Oct 2, 2025

Last verified

Oct, 2025

Keywords

  • Interventions
  • Motivation
  • Autism Spectrum Disorder
  • Daily Living Skills
  • Transition to Adulthood
  • behavior therapy
  • motivational interviewing

Trial information was received from ClinicalTrials.gov and was last updated on 2026-09-08. This information was provided to ClinicalTrials.gov by Children's Hospital of Philadelphia on 2025-10-02.